Robert Alexander (United States Army officer)

Robert Alexander
Robert Alexander, wearing the two stars of a major general, pictured here in 1919.
Born	(1863-10-17)October 17, 1863 Baltimore, Maryland, United States
Died	August 25, 1941(1941-08-25) (aged 77) The Bronx, New York City, United States
Place of Burial	Arlington National Cemetery, United States
Allegiance	United States
Service/branch	United States Army
Years of service	1886–1927
Rank	Major General
Service number	0-282
Unit	Infantry Branch
Commands held	41st Division 63rd Brigade 77th Division 3rd Field Artillery Brigade 3rd Division Fort Lewis, Washington
Battles/wars	American Indian Wars Spanish–American War Philippine–American War Pancho Villa Expedition World War I
Awards	Distinguished Service Cross, Croix de Guerre
Spouse(s)	Mollie Augur Alexander (nee Thomas)

Major General Robert Alexander (October 17, 1863 – August 25, 1941) was a senior United States Army officer. He served in World War I, where he commanded the 77th Infantry Division, in which the famous Lost Battalion served, on the Western Front in 1918.

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Was the American Civil War fought because of slavery? More than 150 years later this remains a controversial question. Why? Because many people don't want to believe that the citizens of the southern states were willing to fight and die to preserve a morally repugnant institution. There has to be another reason, we are told. Well, there isn't. The evidence is clear and overwhelming. Slavery was, by a wide margin, the single most important cause of the Civil War -- for both sides. Before the presidential election of 1860, a South Carolina newspaper warned that the issue before the country was, "the extinction of slavery," and called on all who were not prepared to, "surrender the institution," to act. Shortly after Abraham Lincoln's victory, they did. The secession documents of every Southern state made clear, crystal clear, that they were leaving the Union in order to protect their "peculiar institution" of slavery -- a phrase that at the time meant "the thing special to them." The vote to secede was 169 to 0 in South Carolina, 166 to 7 in Texas, 84 to 15 in Mississippi. In no Southern state was the vote close. Alexander Stephens of Georgia, the Confederacy's Vice President clearly articulated the views of the South in March 1861. "Our new government," he said, was founded on slavery. "Its foundations are laid, its cornerstone rests upon the great truth that the Negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery, submission to the superior race, is his natural and normal condition." Yet, despite the evidence, many continue to argue that other factors superseded slavery as the cause of the Civil War. Some argue that the South only wanted to protect states' rights. But this raises an obvious question: the states' rights to what? Wasn't it to maintain and spread slavery? Moreover, states' rights was not an exclusive Southern issue. All the states -- North and South -- sought to protect their rights -- sometimes they petitioned the federal government, sometimes they quarreled with each other. In fact, Mississippians complained that New York had too strong a concept of states' rights because it would not allow Delta planters to bring their slaves to Manhattan. The South was preoccupied with states' rights because it was preoccupied first and foremost with retaining slavery. Some argue that the cause of the war was economic. The North was industrial and the South agrarian, and so, the two lived in such economically different societies that they could no longer stay together. Not true. In the middle of the 19th century, both North and South were agrarian societies. In fact, the North produced far more food crops than did the South. But Northern farmers had to pay their farmhands who were free to come and go as they pleased, while Southern plantation owners exploited slaves over whom they had total control. And it wasn't just plantation owners who supported slavery. The slave society was embraced by all classes in the South. The rich had multiple motivations for wanting to maintain slavery, but so did the poor, non-slave holding whites. The "peculiar institution" ensured that they did not fall to the bottom rung of the social ladder. That's why another argument -- that the Civil War couldn't have been about slavery because so few people owned slaves -- has little merit. Finally, many have argued that President Abraham Lincoln fought the war to keep the Union together, not to end slavery. That was true at the outset of the war. But he did so with the clear knowledge that keeping the Union together meant either spreading slavery to all the states -- an unacceptable solution -- or vanquishing it altogether. In a famous campaign speech in 1858, Lincoln said, "A house divided against itself cannot stand." What was it that divided the country? It was slavery, and only slavery. He continued: "I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free... It will become all one thing, or all the other." Lincoln's view never changed, and as the war progressed, the moral component, ending slavery, became more and more fixed in his mind. His Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 turned that into law. Slavery is the great shame of America's history. No one denies that. But it's to America's everlasting credit that it fought the most devastating war in its history in order to abolish slavery. As a soldier, I am proud that the United States Army, my army, defeated the Confederates. In its finest hour, soldiers wearing this blue uniform -- almost two hundred thousand of them former slaves themselves -- destroyed chattel slavery, freed 4 million men, women, and children from human bondage, and saved the United States of America. I'm Colonel Ty Seidule, Professor and Head, Department of History at the United States Military Academy, West Point for Prager University.

Early life

Robert Alexander was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on October 17, 1863. His parents were Judge and Mrs. William Alexander.^[1] His father had been Justice of the Circuit Court of Baltimore City and the Court of Appeals of the State of Maryland.

Alexander studied law in the offices of J. B. and Edwin H. Brown in Centreville, Maryland. He attained admission to the bar, but decided against a legal career, instead enlisting in the United States Army's 4th Infantry Regiment as a private on April 7, 1886.

Military career

In 1887, he became the first sergeant of his company, and in 1889 received a promotion to second lieutenant.^[1]

As he rose through the ranks he took part in the American Indian Wars, served in Puerto Rico during the Spanish–American War. He was with the 11th Infantry in 1901 when it was ordered to the Philippines during the Philippine–American War, and he served at Carigara on the island of Leyte. In 1902, he took part in combat against Filipino insurgents on Leyte and Samar, and in one engagement he was wounded by a bolo. During the Pancho Villa Expedition, Alexander served on the Texas–Mexico. He was a distinguished graduate of the Army School of the Line in 1909 and graduated from the Army Staff College in 1910.^[2]^[3]

When the United States joined the Allied forces in World War I, Alexander proved his valor and was able to rise through the ranks. He was also given the responsibility of inspector general in the Zone of Communications from November 1917 to February 1918. Alexander was promoted to brigadier general in February 1918 and then to major general in August 1918.^[1]

From the headquarters of the 77th Division in France, Alexander was one of the officers who reported on the Lost Battalion incident. A group of around 500 soldiers, in nine companies, had disappeared after going into the Argonne Forest expecting American and French Allied troops to meet them. This had followed an American attack on German forces and, with Major Charles White Whittlesey leading the group, the men found that the French troops had been stalled. As a result, the battalion was cut off by the Germans who surprised them and suffered large losses with only 197 men coming out of the ravine. In the report he states:

"General Order Number 30:
I desire to publish to the command an official recognition of the valor and extraordinary heroism in action of the officers and enlisted men of the following organizations: Companies A, B, C, E, G, H 308th Infantry Company K 307th Infantry Companies C, D 306th Machine Gun Btln. These organizations, or detachments therefrom, comprised the approximate force of 550 men under command of Major Charles W. Whittlesey, which was cut off from the remainder of the Seventy-Seventh Division and surrounded by a superior number of the enemy near Charlevaux, in the Forest d'Argonne, from the morning of October 3, 1918, to the night of October 7, 1918. Without food for more than one hundred hours, harassed continuously by machine gun, rifle, trench mortar and grenade fire, Major Whittlesey's command, with undaunted spirit and magnificent courage, successfully met and repulsed daily violent attacks by the enemy. They held the position which had been reached by supreme efforts, under orders received for an advance, until communication was re-established with friendly troops. When relief finally came, approximately 194 officers and men were able to walk out of the position. Officers and men killed numbered 107. On the fourth day a written proposition to surrender received from the Germans was treated with the contempt which it deserved. The officers and men of these organizations during these five days of isolation continually gave unquestionable proof of extraordinary heroism and demonstrated the high standard and ideals of the United States Army.
Robert Alexander, Major General, US Army Commanding"
April 15, 1919^[4]

In France, he commanded the 41st Division, 63rd Infantry Brigade, and the 77th Division.^[1] He commanded the 77th from August 1918 onwards, including during the Meuse–Argonne offensive, where he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) in October for heroism at Grandpré, Ardennes.^[1] The medal's citation reads:

The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross to Major General Robert Alexander, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in action while serving with 77th Division, A.E.F., near Grand Pre, France, 11 October 1918. During the advance in the Argonne Forest and at a time when his forces were fatigued by the stress of battle and a long period of active front-line service, Major General Alexander visited the units in the front line, cheering and encouraging them to greater efforts. Unmindful of the severe fire to which he was subjected, he continued until he had inspected each group. His utter disregard of danger and inspiring example resulted in the crossing of the Aire and the capture of Grand Pre and St. Juvin.^[5]

He was also awarded the Croix de Guerre (France), two citations^[1] and was made a Commander of the Legion of Honor (France).^[6]

After the war, which ended on November 11, 1918, he returned to his permanent rank of colonel and commanded the 3rd Field Artillery Brigade.^[7]

In 1919, Alexander received the honorary degree of LL.D. from St. John's College of Annapolis, Maryland.^[8]

Alexander later commanded the 3rd Division and Fort Lewis, Washington. He retired in 1927 at the rank of major general.^[1]

He authored a memoir, 1931's Memories of the World War, 1917–1918. Also in 1931, Alexander received an honorary LL.D. from the College of Puget Sound.^[9]

In 1933, Alexander was a delegate to the Washington state convention that ratified the Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution.^[10] He was a candidate for chairman of the convention but after a deadlock he withdrew in favor of a compromise choice.^[10] On the ratification question, Alexander was in the majority, which voted to enact the Twenty-first amendment by a vote of 94 to 4.^[10]

Personal life

In 1892, Alexander married Mollie Augur Thomas (1871–1953), the daughter of Brigadier General Earl D. Thomas. They were the parents of two sons, both of whom served in the army. William Dennison (1893–1978) attained the rank of colonel and Robert Jr. became a lieutenant colonel.

Alexander was active in freemasonry.^[6] In 1931, he attained the 33rd degree of the Scottish Rite.^[11]

He died at the Veterans Administration Hospital in The Bronx on August 25, 1941,^[1]^[12] and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery, in Arlington, Virginia.^[13]^[14]

Effective dates of promotion

The dates and ranks of Alexander's promotions were:^[15]

Private and Sergeant, Company G, 4th United States Infantry, April 7, 1886 – January 29, 1890
Second Lieutenant, December 17, 1889
First Lieutenant, January 7, 1897
Captain, October 2, 1899
Major, March 11, 1911
Lieutenant Colonel, July 1, 1916
Colonel, August 26, 1917
Brigadier General (temporary), February 9, 1918
Major General (temporary), August 26, 1918
Colonel, July 31, 1919
Brigadier General (permanent), April 30, 1921
Major General (permanent), August 26, 1927
Major General (retired), October 17, 1927

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Davis 1998, p. 3.
^ Venzon, Anne Cipriano (December 2, 2013). The United States in the First World War: An Encyclopedia. Routledge. ISBN 9781135684464.
^ Official Army Register. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. January 1, 1941. p. 959. Retrieved January 27, 2024.
^ "Report on the Last Battalion Incident". For Great War Society. 2000 – via Doughboy Center.
^ "Valor awards for Robert Alexander". Military Times.
^ ^a ^b Who Was Who in American History – the Military. Chicago: Marquis Who's Who. 1975. p. 6. ISBN 0837932017.
^ Gary J. Clifford, Robert Porter Patterson, The World War I Memoirs of Robert P. Patterson: A Captain in the Great War, 2012, p. 98
^ St. John's College (1922). Catalogue of St. John's College. Annapolis: Press Of The Advertiser. p. 111.
^ Simpson, Ralph (May 1, 1938). Alumnus. College of Puget Sound: Tacoma, Wash. p. 29.
^ ^a ^b ^c "State Severs Dry Law Ties". The Spokesman-Review. Spokane, WA. October 5, 1933. p. 9 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Oregonians Given Masonic Honors". Medford Mail Tribune. Medford, OR. Associated Press. October 21, 1931. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Gen. R. Alexander, 77th's Leader, Dies: Commander in France of New York Division Won Praise of Men for Bravery Under Fire" (PDF). The New York Times. August 27, 1941. p. 19. Retrieved January 27, 2024.
^ "Burial Detail: Alexander, Robert (Section 3, Grave 1847-A-ES)". ANC Explorer. Arlington National Cemetery. (Official website).
^ Washington State Historical Society, Pacific Northwest Quarterly, Volumes 31–32, 1941, p. 472
^ Lesinski, John (February 26, 1942). U.S. House of Representatives, Report of the Committee on Invalid Pensions: Mollie T. Alexander. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office. p. 2 – via Google Books.

Bibliography

Davis, Henry Blaine Jr. (1998). Generals in Khaki. Raleigh, NC: Pentland Press. ISBN 1571970886. OCLC 40298151.
Zabecki, David T.; Mastriano, Douglas V., eds. (2020). Pershing's Lieutenants: American Military Leadership in World War I. New York, NY: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4728-3863-6.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Robert Alexander (United States Army officer).

"Burial Record, Robert Alexander (1863-1941)". Arlington National Cemetery. Arlington, VA: Office of Army Cemeteries. Retrieved August 1, 2021.

Military offices
Preceded by Edward Vollrath	Commanding General 41st Division February–August 1918	Succeeded by Richard Coulter Jr.
Preceded by Evan M. Johnson	Commanding General 77th Division 1918–1919	Succeeded by Post deactivated

This page was last edited on 27 January 2024, at 17:16

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